Blog - Botanical

Find out why the Farrer's spruce is our Dendrologist's Tree of the Month for February...

Find out why the Common ash is our Dendrologist's Tree of the Month for January...

In the final week of our seed collecting expedition we collected under the expert guidance of Ron Lance, who has led us to places where our target species are.

I have chosen to highlight this one this week as our largest, oldest specimen (close to Main Drive and Loop Walk in the Old Arboretum) is looking quite fine in bract right about now.

There is far too much excitement amongst the plants to attempt to mention it all here, so I shall stick to just the one today.

Among the numerous Rhododendron species and cultivars in flower here currently, are two 'firsts' for Westonbirt.

Amid the endless shades of green seen as fresh foliage emerges, are equally wonderful tones of pink, purple and red, as some of our trees put on a colour show equal to that of autumn.

Some of you will know that our Prunus sargentii on Broad Drive is looking rather good just at the moment. Photographs posted to Facebook last week illustrated this nicely I took a few more this morning confirming that this is still the case!...

There is so much to excite here at Westonbirt just now - far too much to mention them all here so I have chosen to highlight just a few of the Acer species along Broad drive, which are perhaps more subtle in their flowering beauty.

The beauty of spring is definitely unfolding at Westonbirt (even if it has turned a little bit chilly again!) and one of the many highlights is Azara microphylla, which is in flower right now.

Spring things are really getting going here at Westonbirt right now.

Quite a different theme this week. We are all drawn towards different things at different times, and for me, today it was the awesome Alders!...

Spring is springing here at Westonbirt, with our trees waking up (some before others!) and providing us with spectacular floral and foliage displays for all to enjoy.

An Australian colleague of mine has recently moved back down under, and before he departed I asked him what he would most miss about living in the UK.

Yesterday was my second guided walk. A different topic this time and I couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend 2 hours in the sunshine than looking at wildflowers.